Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Why is 22 lr hp ammo so hard to find? Anyone know the real reason?

Milespatton: You are close in your phone call conspiracy theory but not quite exact!
I think it goes more often like this - I have several friends (22 ammo shoppers!) who call various Wal-Mart employees and ascertain if and when shipments of 22 ammo are coming in.
I also disagree with the OP that CCI is cranking out 22 ammo 24/7.
I think that ammunition manufacturers and distributors are making their profits the easy way by not shipping the ammo they do produce as far as in decades past and they are concentrating on making centerfire ammo as opposed to rimfire ammo.
And certain government entities are buying outlandish amounts of centerfire - for who knows why?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

They are right about the Walmart app. I just installed it and it works great.

The ammo comes in, three days a week which is known to everybody. It arrives at night but they do not put it out until the day manager comes on duty. She does not know whether there are .22 in the ammo shipment or not until she goes and looks. If you wait until then, you are too late and too far back in line to get anything. Yet the ones buying most of the ammo did not show up when there are no .22 shells in the shipment. miles

I got 12 bricks this year and had to wait at my local Walmart for many evenings for many hours so when it did show up and I had drew a high number I have no guilt or remorse for stocking up.......btw our local WM has a "take a number system" to avoid pushing and fighting

Not any one real reason. When you get a panic,you get people deciding that their current inventory is too small. This causes a shortage. Other folks try to capitalize on this shortage by buying up whatever they can find and sell it at inflated prices. Then normal consumers start to run out. Now nearly everyone is reevaluating their inventory level. Everyone who runs across ammo at quasi-reasonable prices will buy it. In order for thing to return to normal, everyone needs to get stocked up at their new higher inventory levels.

The reason for the shortage of .... (fill in your choice of primers, powder, brass, ammo, etc) boils down to five words:

"I bought all they had."

And all they get in, as soon as it gets there.

And that app's about as useful as a solar powered ashtray. Those counts are at best inaccurate, and that's being generous. Don't forget that while you're scanning that bar code, that box of ammo may be leaving in someone else's hands as you fondle your I-phone.

This schitt will continue as long as there are idiots willing to pay 3-4 times the price to get some ammo. If everyone would just swear off buying ANY .22 ammo at ANY price, 60 days later there would be no shortage and the scalpers would be back under their rocks.

I can't believe anyone asked this question.

I had lunch with a friend who works at Federal and they are working 24/7/365 on all of their rimfire lines. They are cranking out 5-7 million rounds per day. They have not added machinery, but they are maximizing what they have. I wouldnt blame the manufacturers, they just cant keep up!

I have some .22 ammo, but I have 3 kids who are just starting to shoot. It wont be long and I will have to tell my kids that we dont have any ammo to shoot. I really hope that it settles down before then. If not, I hope the fish are biting! Either way, we will be fine and I am not going to panic buy.

5-7 million x 365 = 1825 to 2555 million rds per year, and that is just Federal? Out of the roughly 300 million people in America, I wonder how many people actually shoot 22's?

Was at Cabela's in Edmonton on Saturday, and the .22 ammo shortage cetainly has not made its way up here yet. They had stacks of CCI minimags and stinger in 1600 and 1200 round boxes,somewhre around $150 i think they were. Winchester and Federal 550rd boxes still around $25,and you could haul a truckload out if you wanted. Even had Winchester bricks in little wooden boxes for $21, nice little box too. So, I'm pretty sure no conspiracy on the ammo makers part in holding back ammo.

I'm just about at that point with my 11 year old grandson. He loves to shoot and we are just about of .22's. he ain't gonna be happy. He loves to shoot his Henry lever!! We only have 150 rounds left!!!

The answer is simple, THERE IS A SHORTAGE BECAUSE DEMAND IS HIGHER THAN THE SUPPLY

Not real difficult to under stand

Fear of the present political climate. Everyone is buying. A buddy was tickled pink to pay $80 plus additional shipping to pick up a brick for his kid the other day.

Well, there you have it, the whole problem in a nutshell. As long as your buddy keeps on being tickled pink to pay S80.00 for $18.00 worth of ammo, the problem will just keep on going.

Yes. I'm taking the guns out of the safe and putting my ammo in.

I got up early this morning and went to Walmart and was the first one through the door at 6:00 am. A little after 7:00 the manager came by and said that they got no ammo of any kind last night. There was more ammo in the glass case than there has been for a long time but no .22 rimfire. They had lots of .45 auto and 3006 and even one box of .308. They also had lots of .40 handgun ammo and some of most hunting rifle types. They even had 3, 20 round boxes of .223 winchester. Also a lot of .204 ammo. The regular crowd of buyers did not show. miles

Just this weekend I cracked open a brick of 22 and went shooting. I was going to stare at it all day in my closet instead, and take a bunch of pics, but I figured it would be more fun to go shooting.